Comments on: Morning Metro: Power Outage, T-SPLOST Infographic, and Shared Backyards

By: Daydreamer

Daydreamer — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 23:33:56 +0000

So the extra thousands in taxes that will leave your household budget will also be helping to provide a billion bucks, for a zero accountability slush fund, unrelated to transportation.

Public ‘in the dark’ on T-SPLOST $1B

http://www.ajc.com/news/transportation-referendum/public-in-the-dark-1459227.html

By: Larkspur

Larkspur — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 02:26:25 +0000

I still like the paper newspaper best too, though it’s been sad to see the AJC get thinner and thinner. But they are the best source for local news. And I can’t crumple up my ipad or laptop and stick it in wet sneakers.

By: Decatur Metro

Decatur Metro — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 18:31:40 +0000

Yeah, my other issue (hee) with the New Yorker is the fact that it can bury you with unread issues. You want to read a book? Too bad! There are four New Yorkers sitting on your nightstand that threaten to take over the entire bedroom unless you get crackin’!

By: smalltowngal

smalltowngal — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 17:27:04 +0000

I subscribed to The Atlantic for about 30 years, then finally let it go as an economy measure, but missed it terribly and after a couple of years they got me back with deeply discounted rate. Got a year of the New Yorker as a birthday present and have really enjoyed it, although I am a few weeks behind right now.

By: DEM

DEM — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 16:39:02 +0000

Do those studies compare the US Postal service — going bankrupt at an epic rate — with UPS and Fed Ex, which deliver packages with incredible efficiency and manage to make profits while doing it? Do they measure the efficiency of Paideia vs. DeKalb County Schools? I wonder who would win that one.

I haven’t read the studies to which you refer, but I am curious as to how anyone can conclude that the public sector has systematic efficiency advantages when the federal government cannot even be audited and lacks the kinds of basic financial controls that public companies are required to have. Two quick examples:

http://www.govexec.com/management/2006/12/government-fails-10th-consecutive-audit/23351/.

http://www.federaltimes.com/article/20120206/AGENCY05/202060306

Even specific cabinet departments at the federal level have controls so lax — or in some cases, entirely non-existent — that they can’t get clean audit opinions. If the government can’t roll up its expenses into reliable financial statements, how is it even possible to measure its efficiency?

Moreover, of course the private sector cannot eliminate waste. No one claims that it can.